The Practice of Silence

Boredom as Superpower

Dear Friends,

I hope that the start of March is going well. Here in Greensboro the Red Buds are beginning to bloom and our backyard is filled with the birdsongs of Eastern Bluebirds, Northern Cardinals, the Tufted Titmouse, American Crows, Eastern Towhees, and so many new friends whose names I’m trying to learn. I am working to slow down and pay attention to the More than Human community that surrounds us and it’s been quite a delightful discovery.

Today in our Newsletter, I share a few posts that I’ve written over the past week about a class I’m teaching on silence, a surprise I got in the mail, and a story about how an unexpected gift became an important influence for me.

Thanks for reading,

Wess Daniels

Haw River Watershed (Greensboro, NC)

Fresh on Gathering In Light

Let’s Get Bored Together: The Practice of Silence and Resisting the Attention Economy

What would happen if we worked on the skill, our willingness, even our courage to get bored today? To be quiet without the flash of the screen, the ding of a notification, or the dopamine hit of a “like?” What if we saw boredom, or a regular, sustained stillness as a practice of resistance that could reclaim our lives and attention and perhaps our sanity?

Read More: Let’s Get Bored Together: The Practice of Silence and Resisting the Attention Economy

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Fold in The Light – A New Quaker Zine Project

I got some mail that surprised me - a letter and some zines!

The four zines Natalie sent me:

1. A Quiet Quaker Gets Loud – About Natalie’s experience of Shapenote Singing

2. Pickles: A Stuffed Gorilla with a Consent Culture Ministry

3. Let’s Be Friends: Meet the Unprogrammed Quakers through 3 Radical Beliefs and 3 Countercultural Practices

4. Tools for Spiritual Wayfinding: Betsy Kenworthy Quaker Nomad

Read More: Fold in The Light – A New Quaker Zine Project

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A Little An Aside About The Quaker Nomad

A little story about connections, influence, and a sweet gift from an unexpected source.

Read more: A Little An Aside About The Quaker Nomad

Read, Watch, Find: Links from Around the Web

1. Check out Natalie Ramsland’s Zine newsletter: Fold in the Light

2. Martin tells a little of his history of Zine-making.

3. The Original Star Wars Trilogy Adapted into a 14-Hour Radio Drama by NPR (1981-1996)

4. Speaking of Boredom: Luddite Teens Don’t Want Your Likes.

5. The Tao of Rick Rubin - Podcast

6. Robin Wall Kimmerer — The Intelligence of Plants

Community Happenings (Announcements)

For anyone going to FGC this year: Register for Natalie Ramsland’s FGC Workshop - Zines as Spiritual Practice

I will be leading a workshop at the FWCC Section of Americas later this month. I’m looking forward to Friends visiting North Carolina from all over the section.

A Final Thought

Hurry by Marie Howe

We stop at the dry cleaners and the grocery store  
and the gas station and the green market and  
Hurry up honey, I say, hurry hurry,  
as she runs along two or three steps behind me  
her blue jacket unzipped and her socks rolled down.  
Where do I want her to hurry to? To her grave?  
To mine? Where one day she might stand all grown?  
Today, when all the errands are finally done, I say to her,  
Honey I’m sorry I keep saying Hurry—  
you walk ahead of me. You be the mother.  
And, Hurry up, she says, over her shoulder, looking  
back at me, laughing. Hurry up now darling, she says,  
hurry, hurry, taking the house keys from my hands.

Thank you for reading.

-Wess